Questions tagged [finite-groups]
Questions on group theory which concern finite groups.
2,268
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Character-free proof that Frobenius kernel is a normal subgroup?
The question is in the title, but here is some background/reminders:
A subgroup $H\neq\{1\}$ of a finite group $G$ is called a Frobenius complement if $H\cap H^g = \{1\}$ for all $g\in G\backslash H$....
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2
answers
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Why do sporadic simple groups have so few conjugacy classes?
In finite group theory, there's a general intuition that the further away a group is from abelian, the fewer conjugacy classes it will have. So it is to be expected that non-abelian finite simple ...
- 4,678
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votes
1
answer
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Order-increasing bijection from arbitrary groups to cyclic groups
In his answer to this previous MO question, Gjergji Zaimi referred to the statement that for every finite group $G$ of order $n$, there is a bijection $\sigma \colon G \to \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ ...
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2
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Examples of finite groups with "good" bijection(s) between conjugacy classes and irreducible representations?
For symmetric group conjugacy classes and irreducible representation both are parametrized by Young diagramms, so there is a kind of "good" bijection between the two sets. For general finite groups ...
33
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2
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Is every finite group the outer automorphism group of a finite group?
This question is essentially a reposting of this question from Math.SE, which has a partial answer. YCor suggested I repost it here.
Our starting point is a theorem of Matumoto: every group $Q$ is ...
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3
answers
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Smallest n for which G embeds in $S_n$?
Question: Given a finite group $G$, how do I find the smallest $n$ for which $G$ embeds in $S_n$?
Equivalently, what is the smallest set $X$ on which $G$ acts faithfully by permutations?
This looks ...
- 5,293
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votes
2
answers
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Richness of the subgroup structure of p-groups
Given a prime $p$ and $n \in \mathbb{N}$, let $f_p(n)$ be the smallest
number such that there is a group of order $p^{f_p(n)}$ which all groups of
order $p^n$ embed into. What is the asymptotic growth ...
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votes
11
answers
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Lecture notes on representations of finite groups
Next term I am supposed to teach a course on representation of finite groups. This is a third year course for undegrads. I was thinking to use the book of Grodon James and Martin Liebeck "...
32
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9
answers
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How many groups of size at most n are there? What is the asymptotic growth rate? And what of rings, fields, graphs, partial orders, etc.?
Question. How many (isomorphism types of) finite groups of size at most n are there? What is the asymptotic growth rate? And the same question for rings,
fields, graphs, partial orders, etc.
...
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4
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Classification of finite groups of isometries
Consider the problem of classifying the finite groups of isometries of $\mathbb{R}^n$.
For $n=2$ it is cyclic and dihedral groups.
For $n=3$ they are well known, probably from Kepler and are related ...
32
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3
answers
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Is there a nice explanation for this curious fact about cyclic subgroups?
Here's something that I noticed that quite surprised me.
Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. Consider the following expression.
$$
\nu(G) = \sum_{\substack{H \leq G \\ H \text{ is cyclic}}} |H|
$$
It ...
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votes
3
answers
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Order of products of elements in symmetric groups
Let $n \in \mathbb{N}$. Is it true that for any $a, b, c \in \mathbb{N}$ satisfying
$1 < a, b, c \leq n-2$ the symmetric group ${\rm S}_n$ has elements of order $a$ and $b$
whose product has order $...
- 19.5k
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answers
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Next steps on formal proof of classification of finite simple groups
While people are steaming ahead on finessing the proof of the classification of finite simple groups (CFSG), we have a formal proof in Coq of one of the first major components: the Feit-Thompson odd-...
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Is there a Mathieu groupoid M_31?
I have read something which said that the large amount of common structure between the simple groups $SL(3,3)$ and $M_{11}$ indicated to Conway the possibility that the Mathieu groupoid $M_{13}$ might ...
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Generating a finite group from elements in each conjugacy class
Is there a finite group such that, if you pick one element from each conjugacy class, these don't necessarily generate the entire group?
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(co)homology of symmetric groups
Let $S_n=\{\text{bijections }[n]\to[n]\}$ be the n-th symmetric group. Its (co)homology will be understood with trivial action. What are the $\mathbb{Z}$-modules $H_k(S_n;\mathbb{Z})$? Using GAP, we ...
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answer
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Navigating $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$
$\newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb{Z}}$Let's consider a silly-looking question first. Consider $\Z/p\Z$. Say I am allowed the two operations $x\mapsto x+1$ and $x\mapsto 2x$. Then, starting from $0$, I can ...
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2
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Does the symmetric group $S_{10}$ factor as a knit product of symmetric subgroups $S_6$ and $S_7$?
By knit product (alias: Zappa-Szép product), I mean a product $AB$ of subgroups for which $A\cap B=1$. In particular, note that neither subgroup is required to be normal, thus making this a ...
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Guess that group via product queries
Suppose someone (person B) knows a finite group $G$ of order $n$.
You (person A) know only the order $n$,
and that $1$ is the name of the identity element.
The group elements are named $1,2,\ldots,n$ ...
- 149k
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votes
3
answers
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Roots of permutations
Consider the equation $x^2=x_0$ in the symmetric group $S_n$, where $x_0\in S_n$ is fixed. Is it true that for each integer $n\geq 0$, the maximal number of solutions (the number of square roots of $...
- 103k
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Does $S_4$ inject into $SL(2,R)$ for some commutative ring $R$?
$\newcommand{\Z}{\mathbf{Z}}$
Given a nice infinite collection of groups, for example the symmetric groups, one can ask whether any finite group is a subgroup of one of them. Of course any finite ...
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What determines the maximal dimension of the irreps of a (finite) group?
I am chemist and ask for apologies for all my mathematical inabilities when asking this question in advance, but after quite a bit of searching I found that this problem could be "open" or ...
29
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2
answers
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Quillen + construction for finite groups
Is there an example of two non isomorphic finite groups $G$ and $H$ such that $BG^{+}$ is homotopy equivalent to $BH^{+}$ ?
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2
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Number of finite simple groups of given order is at most 2 - is a classification-free proof possible?
This Wikipedia article states that the isomorphism type of a finite simple group is determined by its order, except that:
L4(2) and L3(4) both have order 20160
O2n+1(q) and S2n(q) have the same order ...
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votes
6
answers
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Are there always more conjugacy classes in the kernel of a morphism to $Z_2$ than not?
Let $G$ be a finite group and let $\phi:G\to Z_2$ be a homomorphism to the group with two elements. Is it always the case that there are more conjugacy classes in the kernel of $\phi$ than conjugacy ...
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votes
3
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When is $S_n \times S_m$ a subgroup of $S_p$?
I asked the following question on math.stackexchange several months ago:
Let $n,m,p>1$ be such that $S_n \times S_m \hookrightarrow S_p$. Does it imply that $p \geq n+m$?
Derek Holt gave a ...
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1
answer
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Number of irreducible representations of a finite group over a field of characteristic 0
Let $G$ be a finite group and $K$ a field with $\mathbb{Q} \subseteq K \subseteq \mathbb{C}$.
For $K=\mathbb{C}$ the number of irreducible representations of $KG$ is equal to the number of conjugacy ...
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votes
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answers
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Being a subgroup: proof by character theory
Let me first cite a theorem due to Frobenius:
Let $G$ be a finite group, with $H$ a proper subgroup ($H\ne (1)$ and $G$). Suppose that for every $g\not\in H$, we have $H\cap gHg^{-1}=(1)$. Then
$...
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0
answers
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Mathieu group $M_{23}$ as an algebraic group via additive polynomials
An elegant description of the Mathieu group $M_{23}$ is the following: Let $C$ be the multiplicative subgroup of order $23$ in the field $F=\mathbb F_{2^{11}}$ with $2^{11}$ elements. Then $M_{23}$ is ...
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Has anyone catalogued the "first generation" proof of the classification of finite simple groups?
It has been estimated that the original proof of the CFSG spans around 15,000 journal pages written by hundreds of authors over most of the 20th century. The GLS project attempted to simplify this ...
- 1,142
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1
answer
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Multiplying all the elements in a group
Let $G = \{ g_i | i = 1, ...,n \}$ be a finite group and denote by $G!$ the multiset consisting of all the products of all different elements of $G$ in any order, that is
$$ G! = [ \prod_i g_{\sigma(i)...
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Properties to have matrices that commute in $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb C)$
Let $G$ be a finite subgroup of $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb C)$, $A,B \in G$ whose eigenvalues are thus in the unit circle.
Assume that the eigenvalues of $A$ are included in a circle arc of length $<\...
user49093
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4
answers
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Are there two groups which are categorically Morita equivalent but only one of which is simple
Can you find two finite groups G and H such that their representation categories are Morita equivalent (which is to say that there's an invertible bimodule category over these two monoidal categories) ...
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Monstrous Moonshine for Thompson group $Th$?
I. As a background, in Traces of Singular Moduli (p.2), Zagier defines the modular form of weight 3/2,
$$g(\tau) = \frac{\eta^2(\tau)}{\eta(2\tau)}\frac{E_4(4\tau)}{\eta^6(4\tau)}=\vartheta_4(\tau)\, ...
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What is this subgroup of $\mathfrak S_{12}$?
On some occasion I was gifted a calendar. It displays a math quizz every day of the year. Not really exciting in general, but at least one of them let me raise a group-theoretic question.
The quizz: ...
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Highly transitive groups (without assuming the classification of finite simple groups)
What is known about the classification of n-transitive group actions for n large without using the classification of finite simple groups? With the classification of finite simple groups a complete ...
- 27.8k
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Non-isomorphic finite simple groups
Hello,
The smallest integer $n$ such that there exists two non-isomorphic simple groups of order $n$, is $n=20160$ (namely for the groups $\mathrm{PSL}_3(\mathbb F _4)$ and $\mathrm{PSL}_4(\mathbb F ...
- 2,752
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Is the cohomology ring of a finite group computable?
Is there an algorithm which halts on all inputs that takes as input a finite group ($p$-group if you like) and outputs a finite presentation of the cohomology ring (with trivial coefficients $\mathbb{...
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votes
2
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991
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Is $\varphi(n)/n$ the maximal portion of $n$-cycles in a degree $n$ group?
Let $G$ be a degree $n$ group, i.e., a subgroup of the symmetric group $S_n$. Let $p(G)$ be the number of $n$-cycles in $G$ divided by the size of $G$.
Examples:
If $G$ is a cyclic transitive ...
- 3,282
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4
answers
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$\operatorname{PSL}(2,\mathbb{F}_p) $ does not embed in $\mathfrak{S}_p$ for $p>11$
A famous result of Galois, in his letter to Auguste Chevalier, is that for $p$ prime $>11$ the group $\operatorname{PSL}(2,\mathbb{F}_p) $ does not embed in the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_p$. ...
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3
answers
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learning Deligne-Lusztig theory
Can someone give me a roadmap for learning Deligne-Lusztig theory? (Except for the original article by Deligne and Lusztig)
Edit: You may assume knowledge of representation theory of finite groups (...
user19475
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3
answers
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In what sense is SL(2,q) "very far from abelian"?
I am far from an expert in this area.
I'd be grateful if someone could explain in what sense $\mathop{SL}(2,q)$ is
"very far from abelian," to quote
Emanuele Viola?
Why does Theorem 1 (below) justify ...
- 149k
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answers
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Conjugacy classes in finite groups that remain conjugacy classes when restricted to proper subgroups
In a forthcoming paper with Venkatesh and Westerland, we require the following funny definition. Let G be a finite group and c a conjugacy class in G. We say the pair (G,c) is nonsplitting if, for ...
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Simplicity of alternating group $A_n$
I am teaching an introductory group theory course, and it has come to the inevitable proof that $A_n$ is simple for $n\geq 5$. Now, there seem to be a number of proofs that I can find – one the "...
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2
answers
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In what sense is the classification of all finite groups "impossible"?
I think there is a general belief that the classification of all finite groups is "impossible". I would like to know if this claim can be made more precise in any way. For instance, if there is a ...
- 6,104
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3
answers
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Statistics of irreps of S_n that can be read off the Young diagram, and consequences of Kerov–Vershik
Alexei Oblomkov recently told me about the beautiful theorem of Kerov and Vershik, which says that "almost all Young diagrams look the same." More precisely: take a random irreducible ...
- 19.1k
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votes
1
answer
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Number of 2-dimensional irreducible representations of a finite group ?
Question: What is the number of two-dimensional irreducible representations of a finite group ? How it can be expressed in groups-theoretic terms ? (Number of 1-dimensional irreps is |G/[G,G]| ).
...
25
votes
1
answer
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How does one compute invariants of certain Grassmannians inside the regular representation?
Barry Mazur and I have come across the question below, motivated by (but independent
of) issues regarding the Leopoldt conjecture.
Suppose that $\mathbf{C}$ is the complex numbers.
Let $H$ be a ...
user631
25
votes
0
answers
966
views
Is every $p$-group the $\mathbb{F}_p$-points of a unipotent group
Let $\Gamma$ be a finite group of order $p^n$. Is there necessarily a unipotent algebraic group $G$ of dimension $n$, defined over $\mathbb{F}_p$, with $\Gamma \cong G(\mathbb{F}_p)$?
I have no real ...
- 151k
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votes
2
answers
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What's the maximum probability of associativity for triples in a nonassociative loop?
In a finite nonabelian group, the probability that two randomly chosen elements commute cannot exceed 5/8. One easy proof also makes it easy to find the smallest groups that attain this bound, namely ...
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